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Friday, April 21, 2006

An appeal from the Pope

Join the Million Voices for Darfur Campaign. This is from the website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops:

WHY THIS ISSUE IS IMPORTANT: Although the U.S. bishops were deeply gratified when the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved its version the “Darfur Peace and Accountability Act” (H.R. 3127) a few weeks ago, conference committee action will still be necessary to reconcile minor differences with the previously passed Senate version (S. 1462) of this bill. As indicated in their repeated calls for enactment of this legislation, the bishops hope that these measures will help to bring an end to the atrocities suffered by the people of Darfur in western Sudan, where innocent civilians remain trapped in the middle of violent clashes between the Sudanese army and rebel forces, as well as subject to inhuman cruelty at the hands of the janjaweed militia under the sponsorship of the government in Khartoum. In addition to the 400,000 people who have died since 2003, 2.5 million have been driven from their homes and 3.5 million are at risk of starvation.

In the face of the intolerable human suffering resulting from this brutal, government-sanctioned campaign against the people of Darfur, which the U.S. government has labeled genocide, we must answer the appeal of Pope Benedict XVI, last November. Our Holy Father stated that “The horror of events unfolding in Darfur, to which my beloved predecessor Pope John Paul II referred on many occasions, points to the need for a stronger international resolve to ensure security and basic human rights. Today, I add my voice to the cry of the suffering and assure you that the Holy See … will continue to do everything possible to end the cycle of violence and misery.”

More information on this issue, and suggestions of things that you can do, are here. If you happen to hear anything about this in your church, please let Albany Catholic know. We would like to give credit to those who are doing something.